Today's Tech: Samsung's Smart App Challenge 2013 and five ways to capture the full potential of Evernote

Samsung has announced its Smart App Challenge 2013, a contest aimed at finding new Galaxy S4 apps that utilise group communication functionality in interesting ways. The contest runs from 20 June until 31 August and is open to all mobile app developers worldwide. All apps must leverage the Samsung Chord SDK, which allows developers to build collaborative, content-sharing apps without a detailed knowledge of networking. Chord can be used to quickly and easily connect nearby devices for real-time interaction, data-transfer, or multi-player gameplay. Samsung will select 10 winners who will receive a total of $800,000 (£525,000) in prize money, plus the opportunity for investment evaluation and app promotion. Developers wishing to participate can sign up on the App Challenge website and register their apps from 20 June.

In the aftermath of Yahoo's $1.1 billion (£724 million) purchase of Tumblr, it has inevitably emerged that some Tumblr users are souring at the prospect of being drawn into the Yahoo ecosystem. In a blog post, WordPress founder Matt Mullenweg claimed that many Tumblr users are jumping ship to his blogging platform to avoid dealing with Yahoo. Of course a random sample of one hour in the wake of what was still at the time an unconfirmed report is hardly proof that Tumblr will shed a significant number of loyal users. However, it does offer a peek at the challenge Yahoo faces at it attempts to merge Tumblr's profile as a hub of the young and cool with Yahoo's image as a slow moving, old-school Web player possibly past its prime. In his own blog post, Tumblr founder David Karp tried to soothe users' fears, but the long-term effects of the acquisition remain to be seen.

Evernote is an app that lets you save text notes, photos, voice memos, or even documents that you upload. It syncs these notes across all the Evernote apps you have installed on your devices, so a note you write on your smartphone also pops up on your iPad, as well as your PC – and anywhere else you use the service. You can organise notes into notebooks, just as you would put files into folders on your desktop or laptop computer. Evernote can be used to save all types of notes, from drafts of articles to business meeting notes to photographs of wine and beer labels. The first few times you use the app, it can feel odd to have only two or three entries, but in a short while you could easily accumulate hundreds. It's not until you reach a critical mass of notes that Evernote's organisational abilities really come to light. ITProPortal talks through five handy tips for using Evernote effectively.

Finally, Jolla, which has been working on the MeeGo-based Sailfish operating system, has unveiled its first smartphone, which is expected to hit the market by the end of this year. The unnamed device is currently available to pre-order for €399 (£337) but Jolla is taking a Kickstarter-like approach to sales of its smartphone by handing out perks to those who pay a little extra. Pre-order now, and for an extra €40 (£34), get an "I am the first one" Jolla t-shirt; for an added €100 (£85), customers can get a €100 (£85) phone discount voucher and a limited-edition smartphone (plus the t-shirt). Jolla co-founder Marc Dillon has also called on developers to create Sailfish apps. Jolla has been working since late 2011 to create a new smartphone and operating system based on the now defunct MeeGo OS. The 4.5in Jolla smartphone is Android-app compliant. It boasts a dual-core processor and support for 4G LTE where available, as well as 16GB storage and a microSD card slot, an 8-megapixel camera, and a user-replaceable battery. The removable back case allows users to customise both the hardware and the software of the phone, which you can learn more about by following the link above.